When customers walk into Ten Thousand Villages, they’re greeted with the words “karibu” and “asante,” Swahili for ‘welcome’ and ‘thank you’. Music from Putumayo fuses the shop with a sense of worldly purpose. Free samples of organic Tanzanian coffee sit near the register.
The nonprofit, fair-trade retail shop has 150 outlets in the U.S. and has been in West Hartford Center for 12 years. It’s the ideal store for a socially conscious consumer who wants to understand where products come from, how they’re made, and perhaps most importantly, how their sales are helping the craftspeople who created them. This is one reason why Donita Herr, assistant manager at the West Hartford store, typically prints out page-long artisan stories for her customers.
In spite of the crushed economy, Herr says “sales are up” at the West Hartford store. Last April, she said she averaged about 85 customers a week. This April, she’s averaging 103, she said, noting she considers herself “understaffed” and relies heavily on the help of more than a dozen volunteers.
For the third year in a row, Ten Thousand Villages was just recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2010. It was named to the list as an ethical leader in the specialty retail category.
“This year’s World’s Most Ethical Companies award was more competitive than ever, because companies realize that making ethics a priority is critical in a tough economic environment,” said Alex Brigham, executive director of the Ethisphere Institute, in a recent press release. In the course of judging, Ethisphere reviewed thousands of nominations from companies in over 100 countries and 36 industries.
Ten Thousand Villages works with over 130 artisan groups and offers fair-trade home and garden decor, jewelry, personal accessories and gift items from 38 countries around the world. Prices start as low as $2 and can go up to nearly $200. Over half of the artisans the nonprofit works with are women and many have alarming stories: some live with HIV and AIDS; some are war widows; some are young Bangladeshi girls who had been sold into prostitution. They are able to turn their lives around as they start to earn income from their crafts, Herr said.
“Part of what sells our products is we inform people of our mission. People want to do good,” said Herr. “People are careful with their money, but they want to give something meaningful so that they’re not only helping the person they’re giving the gift to, but someone else on the planet.”
Aside from altruism, Herr says customer coupons — which are e-mailed or mailed monthly — and word of mouth are her two best marketing tools. Occasionally, Ten Thousand Villages participates in events in Blue Back Square or at gift marketplaces, such as the upcoming women’s leadership summit May 18 at Saint Joseph’s College.
According to the store’s policies, “fair trade” means artisans set the price for all of their labor and receive up to a 50 percent cash advance prior to starting their work. Artisans receive payment in full when an order is shipped, said Herr. The idea behind the store’s fair trade system is to create long-term relationships so artisans fill consistent orders from year to year and can earn lasting income. At times, Ten Thousand Villages will work with buyers and designers to assist artisans with trend and color changes to their products, so they can increase their sales in the competitive global marketplace.
“The more we sell, the more we order, the more help we’re giving to the artisans,” said Herr.
Joanna Smiley, a Hartford area freelancer, writes the weekly Local Insight column for The Hartford Business Journal.
